Historical: The sixth year of the reign of the judges would be approximately 87 BC. The first year of the reign of the judges occurs 509 years after the departure from Jerusalem. Apparently, that year is also termed the first year of the reign of the judges as that is the only way that the time frame fits with the birth of Christ (which this correlation presumes to have occurred in 4 BC).
In this case, the historical information is that in the sixth year of the reign of the judges we have a contrast to the previous year. Where the previous year was full of contentions and wars, in this year, there are no contentions nor wars. Once again, we should remember that Mormon uses contentions for internal strife and wars as external conflicts.
Textual: The marking of the year and the presentation of some information of what happened in that year has been a technique Mormon has used before, and as was previously noted, is a technique known in later Mesoamerican documents (the most obvious example being the “Anales de Cuauhtitlan.” In: Codice Chimalpopoca Instituto de Investigaciones Historicas, UNAM 1975).
Verse 1 sets up a contrast to the conditions listed in verse 2. Mormon has finished a chapter on wars and contentions, and then notes that in the next year there are no wars nor contentions. While this might be seen to be a very good thing, and it was, it nevertheless does not adequately describe the conditions in Zarahemla. This verse gives the good news of the year, to be contrasted with the bad news beginning in verse 2.